Exemplary embodiments herein relate to roof HVAC outlets.
As vehicles become more advanced, there is a desire to increase the comfort and convenience that is provided to the occupants of the vehicle. To accomplish this, heating and air conditioning outlets may be individually supplied to mid-row or rear seat occupants. Also, to further increase the occupants' comfort, electronic devices can be individually provided to the occupants. These electronic devices may include a lamp for illumination, and/or something more complex, such as a control device for the heating and air conditioning or a personal entertainment station.
To supply this individualized comfort and convenience to the vehicle occupants, various structures can be located in the vehicle roof. This can be accomplished by supplying holes in the vehicle roof liner to house the various structures. For example, a first structure is typically provided to house the individualized heating and air conditioning outlets and a second structure is usually provided to house the electronic device. Wire harness clips may be glued to the backside of the roof liner to secure the wire harness that provides power to the electronic device.
Unfortunately, as the number of housings is increased, the cost of the vehicle increases and the potential for increased tolerance stack-up is likely. Further, by providing the holes in the roof liner, the structural rigidity of the roof liner is dramatically reduced. This may cause sagging of the roof liner and/or appearance defects. Additionally, as the various structures are increased in size to accommodate additional features, they also have a tendency to become less rigid, further contributing to appearance defects and can even result in early device failure. In an attempt to address this defect, each of these structures may be attached to a separate stiffener that is attached to the roof lining. However this increases the number of stiffeners that must be used.
Finally, as the individualized heating and air conditioning outlets and the electronic device are separate components and each requires its own housing, there are an increased number of operations required to install the components into the vehicle, which translates into increased labor costs. As such, vehicle assembly and the related inventory management is further complicated.